harmen hansord apologists anonymous

heyo! im lark, im 18, and i like to write speculative fiction and draw :-)  

[ao3commentoftheday]

life's too short to write for an imaginary critic that you fear will hate what you wrote

[ao3commentoftheday]

to be clear, odds are good that someone will hate what you wrote, but that doesn't mean the writing is bad. That means they aren't part of your audience.

don't write for them.

[bookishdiplodocus]

The Neurodivergent Writer’s Guide to Fun and Productivity

(Even when life beats you down)

Look, I’m a mom, I have ADHD, I’m a spoonie. To say that I don’t have heaps of energy to spare and I struggle with consistency is an understatement. For years, I tried to write consistently, but I couldn’t manage to keep up with habits I built and deadlines I set.

So fuck neurodivergent guides on building habits, fuck “eat the frog first”, fuck “it’s all in the grind”, and fuck “you just need time management”—here is how I manage to write often and a lot.

Focus on having fun, not on the outcome

This was the groundwork I had to lay before I could even start my streak. At an online writing conference, someone said: “If you push yourself and meet your goals, and you publish your book, but you haven’t enjoyed the process… What’s the point?” and hoo boy, that question hit me like a truck.

I was so caught up in the narrative of “You’ve got to show up for what’s important” and “Push through if you really want to get it done”. For a few years, I used to read all these productivity books about grinding your way to success, and along the way I started using the same language as they did. And I notice a lot of you do so, too.

But your brain doesn’t like to grind. No-one’s brain does, and especially no neurodivergent brain. If having to write gives you stress or if you put pressure on yourself for not writing (enough), your brain’s going to say: “Huh. Writing gives us stress, we’re going to try to avoid it in the future.”

So before I could even try to write regularly, I needed to teach my brain once again that writing is fun. I switched from countable goals like words or time to non-countable goals like “fun” and “flow”.

Rewire my brain: writing is fun and I’m good at it

I used everything I knew about neuroscience, psychology, and social sciences. These are some of the things I did before and during a writing session. Usually not all at once, and after a while I didn’t need these strategies anymore, although I sometimes go back to them when necessary.

I journalled all the negative thoughts I had around writing and try to reason them away, using arguments I knew in my heart were true. (The last part is the crux.) Imagine being supportive to a writer friend with crippling insecurities, only the friend is you.

Not setting any goals didn’t work for me—I still nurtured unwanted expectations. So I did set goals, but made them non-countable, like “have fun”, “get in the flow”, or “write”. Did I write? Yes. Success! Your brain doesn’t actually care about how high the goal is, it cares about meeting whatever goal you set.

I didn’t even track how many words I wrote. Not relevant.

I set an alarm for a short time (like 10 minutes) and forbade myself to exceed that time. The idea was that if I write until I run out of mojo, my brain learns that writing drains the mojo. If I write for 10 minutes and have fun, my brain learns that writing is fun and wants to do it again.

Reinforce the fact that writing makes you happy by rewarding your brain immediately afterwards. You know what works best for you: a walk, a golden sticker, chocolate, cuddle your dog, whatever makes you happy.

I conditioned myself to associate writing with specific stimuli: that album, that smell, that tea, that place. Any stimulus can work, so pick one you like. I consciously chose several stimuli so I could switch them up, and the conditioning stays active as long as I don’t muddle it with other associations.

Use a ritual to signal to your brain that Writing Time is about to begin to get into the zone easier and faster. I guess this is a kind of conditioning as well? Meditation, music, lighting a candle… Pick your stimulus and stick with it.

Specifically for rewiring my brain, I started a new WIP that had no emotional connotations attached to it, nor any pressure to get finished or, heaven forbid, meet quality norms. I don’t think these techniques above would have worked as well if I had applied them on writing my novel.

It wasn’t until I could confidently say I enjoyed writing again, that I could start building up a consistent habit. No more pushing myself.

I lowered my definition for success

When I say that nowadays I write every day, that’s literally it. I don’t set out to write 1,000 or 500 or 10 words every day (tried it, failed to keep up with it every time)—the only marker for success when it comes to my streak is to write at least one word, even on the days when my brain goes “naaahhh”. On those days, it suffices to send myself a text with a few keywords or a snippet. It’s not “success on a technicality (derogatory)”, because most of those snippets and ideas get used in actual stories later. And if they don’t, they don’t. It’s still writing. No writing is ever wasted.

A side note on high expectations, imposter syndrome, and perfectionism

Obviously, “Setting a ridiculously low goal” isn’t something I invented. I actually got it from those productivity books, only I never got it to work. I used to tell myself: “It’s okay if I don’t write for an hour, because my goal is to write for 20 minutes and if I happen to keep going for, say, an hour, that’s a bonus.” Right? So I set the goal for 20 minutes, wrote for 35 minutes, and instead of feeling like I exceeded my goal, I felt disappointed because apparently I was still hoping for the bonus scenario to happen. I didn’t know how to set a goal so low and believe it.

I think the trick to making it work this time lies more in the groundwork of training my brain to enjoy writing again than in the fact that my daily goal is ridiculously low. I believe I’m a writer, because I prove it to myself every day. Every success I hit reinforces the idea that I’m a writer. It’s an extra ward against imposter syndrome.

Knowing that I can still come up with a few lines of dialogue on the Really Bad Days—days when I struggle to brush my teeth, the day when I had a panic attack in the supermarket, or the day my kid got hit by a car—teaches me that I can write on the mere Bad-ish Days.

The more I do it, the more I do it

The irony is that setting a ridiculously low goal almost immediately led to writing more and more often. The most difficult step is to start a new habit. After just a few weeks, I noticed that I needed less time and energy to get into the zone. I no longer needed all the strategies I listed above.

Another perk I noticed, was an increased writing speed. After just a few months of writing every day, my average speed went from 600 words per hour to 1,500 wph, regularly exceeding 2,000 wph without any loss of quality.

Talking about quality: I could see myself becoming a better writer with every passing month. Writing better dialogue, interiority, chemistry, humour, descriptions, whatever: they all improved noticeably, and I wasn’t a bad writer to begin with.

The increased speed means I get more done with the same amount of energy spent. I used to write around 2,000-5,000 words per month, some months none at all. Nowadays I effortlessly write 30,000 words per month. I didn’t set out to write more, it’s just a nice perk.

Look, I’m not saying you should write every day if it doesn’t work for you. My point is: the more often you write, the easier it will be.

No pressure

Yes, I’m still working on my novel, but I’m not racing through it. I produce two or three chapters per month, and the rest of my time goes to short stories my brain keeps projecting on the inside of my eyelids when I’m trying to sleep. I might as well write them down, right?

These short stories started out as self-indulgence, and even now that I take them more seriously, they are still just for me. I don’t intend to ever publish them, no-one will ever read them, they can suck if they suck. The unintended consequence was that my short stories are some of my best writing, because there’s no pressure, it’s pure fun.

Does it make sense to spend, say, 90% of my output on stories no-one else will ever read? Wouldn’t it be better to spend all that creative energy and time on my novel? Well, yes. If you find the magic trick, let me know, because I haven’t found it yet. The short stories don’t cannibalize on the novel, because they require different mindsets. If I stopped writing the short stories, I wouldn’t produce more chapters. (I tried. Maybe in the future? Fingers crossed.)

Don’t wait for inspiration to hit

There’s a quote by Picasso: “Inspiration hits, but it has to find you working.” I strongly agree. Writing is not some mystical, muse-y gift, it’s a skill and inspiration does exist, but usually it’s brought on by doing the work. So just get started and inspiration will come to you.

Accountability and community

Having social factors in your toolbox is invaluable. I have an offline writing friend I take long walks with, I host a monthly writing club on Discord, and I have another group on Discord that holds me accountable every day. They all motivate me in different ways and it’s such a nice thing to share my successes with people who truly understand how hard it can be.

The productivity books taught me that if you want to make a big change in your life or attitude, surrounding yourself with people who already embody your ideal or your goal huuuugely helps. The fact that I have these productive people around me who also prioritize writing, makes it easier for me to stick to my own priorities.

Your toolbox

The idea is to have several techniques at your disposal to help you stay consistent. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket by focussing on just one technique. Keep all of them close, and if one stops working or doesn’t inspire you today, pivot and pick another one.

After a while, most “tools” run in the background once they are established. Things like surrounding myself with my writing friends, keeping up with my daily streak, and listening to the album I conditioned myself with don’t require any energy, and they still remain hugely beneficial.

Do you have any other techniques? I’d love to hear about them!

I hope this was useful. Happy writing!

[writeblrfantasy]

my 10 holy grail pieces of writing advice for beginners

from an indie author who's published 4 books and written 20+, as well as 400k in fanfiction (who is also a professional beta reader who encounters the same issues in my clients' books over and over)

show don't tell is every bit as important as they say it is, no matter how sick you are of hearing about it. "the floor shifted beneath her feet" hits harder than "she felt sick with shock."

no head hopping. if you want to change pov mid scene, put a scene break. you can change it multiple times in the same scene! just put a break so your readers know you've changed pov.

if you have to infodump, do it through dialogue instead of exposition. your reader will feel like they're learning alongside the character, and it will flow naturally into your story.

never open your book with an exposition dump. instead, your opening scene should drop into the heart of the action with little to no context. raise questions to the reader and sprinkle in the answers bit by bit. let your reader discover the context slowly instead of holding their hand from the start. trust your reader; donn't overexplain the details. this is how you create a perfect hook.

every chapter should end on a cliffhanger. doesn't have to be major, can be as simple as ending a chapter mid conversation and picking it up immediately on the next one. tease your reader and make them need to turn the page.

every scene should subvert the character's expectations, as big as a plot twist or as small as a conversation having a surprising outcome. scenes that meet the character's expectations, such as a boring supply run, should be summarized.

arrive late and leave early to every scene. if you're character's at a party, open with them mid conversation instead of describing how they got dressed, left their house, arrived at the party, (because those things don't subvert their expectations). and when you're done with the reason for the scene is there, i.e. an important conversation, end it. once you've shown what you needed to show, get out, instead of describing your character commuting home (because it doesn't subvert expectations!)

epithets are the devil. "the blond man smiled--" you've lost me. use their name. use it often. don't be afraid of it. the reader won't get tired of it. it will serve you far better than epithets, especially if you have two people of the same pronouns interacting.

your character should always be working towards a goal, internal or external (i.e learning to love themself/killing the villain.) try to establish that goal as soon as possible in the reader's mind. the goal can change, the goal can evolve. as long as the reader knows the character isn't floating aimlessly through the world around them with no agency and no desire. that gets boring fast.

plan scenes that you know you'll have fun writing, instead of scenes that might seem cool in your head but you know you'll loathe every second of. besides the fact that your top priority in writing should be writing for only yourself and having fun, if you're just dragging through a scene you really hate, the scene will suffer for it, and readers can tell. the scenes i get the most praise on are always the scenes i had the most fun writing. an ideal outline shouldn't have parts that make you groan to look at. you'll thank yourself later.

happy writing :)

[aceptical]

I love characters that tear themselves apart for something. I love characters that would willfully destroy themselves for their goal. Characters that have moved past the point of caring what happens to them because all that matters is this one goal and it’s fine if they’re destroyed or maimed or anything else because as long as they fulfill that goal they think they’ll be fine.

Even better if they gradually start to doubt this goal. What have I been pouring myself into this entire time? But by now they’re too far gone to stop so like clockwork they just keep walking towards this goal. They’ll constantly destroy themself for this one goal and they can’t change that fate no matter if they can recognize their original goal has been twisted beyond any recognition.

[aphel1on]

i have such a love for characters who descend into madness or villainy out of deep, deep empathy. characters who fundamentally cannot cope with the cruel realities they find themselves in and blow up about it in spectacular fashion. fallen angel type characters with tears of outrage in their eyes. characters who break before they bend, and break so badly they splatter blood all over their noble ideals. every variation on it gets me so good

[cedar-west-deactivated20230408]

If your plot feels flat, STUDY it! Your story might be lacking...

Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?

Thematic relevance - Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?

Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?

Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?

Yield - Is there foreshadowing? Do the protagonist's choices have unforeseen consequences down the road? Do they use knowledge or clues from the beginning, to help them in the end? Do they learn things about the other characters that weren't immediately obvious?

[mishkatelwarriorgoddess]

Thank you so much for this!

[busy-bizzy-bee]

Tips on writing an essay from my history professor

1. If you approach writing as a mystical event where you sit down at a blank page and expect to be visited by divine inspiration, you’re fucked. Writing is not a talent, it is a skill. It is a muscle. If you don’t use it, it dies.

2. Be comfortable with writing absolute garbage. Get all your thoughts down: write shit. Then edit; devote 50% of your time or more to editing. This is when you write your thesis. This is when you decide where paragraphs are.

3. Know how to use a comma. If you use more than two in a sentence, it’s too many. You’re doing something wrong. In American writing, beauty is not in the length and complexity of a sentence. Beauty is in short sentences, with a variety of structures.

4. If you can cut a word, cut it. Ask yourself, do I really need all these words? Keep only what is necessary, leave room for the important stuff.

5. Avoid canned expressions. The phrase ‘a needle in a haystack’ was effective the first time it was used in an essay – it no longer is. It would be better to write the most boring sentence than to write a cliche metaphor that serves no purpose.

6. When you use the word “which” you should probably be using the word “that.” If you don’t know, assume it should be “that.”

7. Avoid obscure vocabulary or jargon. Obscure vocabulary displays nothing about your intelligence or academic success.

8. Read good writing with the intention of absorbing how those authors write successfully.

[carrieonwriting]

some highlights from my writing seminar with honestly one of my favourite authors of all time who shall remain nameless bc i dont want her to know i was spilling her secrets online

The first trick is to detach yourself from your idea. You don’t have just one novel inside you, and it’s not a big deal if you don’t finish this novel.

She was skeptical of the common advice “just write!!1!” - she talked about how long ideas for her most popular novels were marinating inside her before she properly wrote them

As a continuation of that, she was a big believer in knowing what you want to write before you write it. Not what you’re going to write, what you want to write. 

The first thing she decides about a novel is what the mood is going to be, and this informs every other decision (e.g. the mood for Shiver was bittersweet)

Ideas should be personal, specific, exciting and they should exclude secondary sources. A personal idea isn’t necessarily autobiographical (which should be avoided), but it speaks to your emotional truth. 

She said she had been read Ronsey fanfiction and she couldn’t view her car in the same way since. 

Story is the thing that seems most important to reader but is most changeable to the author - story is subservient to your mood and your message. Change what you like in the plot as long as your book retains its sense of self.

Story is conflict, exploration and change. A good story has active tension -the characters want something, instead of just wanting something not to happen (e.g. wanting to kill an enemy instead of simply defending a stronghold against an enemy) 

A story needs to have a concrete end, something to be done. 

Satisfaction is important - deliver what you promise to the reader. The other shoe has to drop. Ronan Lynch doesn’t ever talk about his feelings, so its rewarding when he does. 

Earn your emotional moments (she threw shade at Fantastic Beasts lmao)

Forcing a character to be passive is dissatisfying to the reader. 

Characters are products of their environments, consistent/predictable, nuanced and specific, moving the plot, and subservient to other story elements. 

She always starts with tropes for ensemble casts like sitcoms. Helpful for building good character dynamics.

Write scenes with characters saying explicitly what they’re thinking and then go back and make them talk like real people in the edit. 

An action can also prove what they’re thinking, instead of making them say it or another character guess it (e.g. Ronan punching a wall). 

Move the reader’s emotional furniture around without them noticing. 

All her books follow the three act structure. Established normal -> inciting incident -> character makes an Active Decision -> fun and games -> escalation -> darkest moment -> climax. 

Promise what you’re going to do in the first five pages. 

Read your book out loud. Record yourself reading it. 

If you have writer’s block, it’s because you’ve stopped writing the book you want to write. She likes to delete everything she’s written until she gets back to a point where she knew she was writing what she wanted to write, and then carrying on from there. 

[ginnyzero]

“ You don’t have just one novel inside you, and it’s not a big deal if you don’t finish this novel. “ - Okay, personally, I get about one GRAND universe idea a year since I’ve actually started working with original. I’ve gotten ideas from petty spite, video games, art, memes, dabbling in worldbuilding in fanfiction, “what do I want to see in this genre,” and I’ve published books in 2 of those universes. The rest are either in first draft stages or… marinating! So, expose yourself to lots of media and yes, even Memes. There are a limitless amount of ideas inside you and around you, let them come out!

“ a big believer in knowing what you want to write before you write it. Not what you’re going to write, what you want to write.”  -  What is your book about? What are you trying to explore and how does the elements of your book fit in with that? What big idea are you trying to convey? (in lit worlds, you might remember this as the theme.) For example, in one set of books, I use the lens of werewolves to explore the concept of family and having healthy relationships. (With explosions and motorcycles.) This ALSO goes for your characters. Who are these people? What are they about? What motivates them?

This is part of big picture, vision stuff I recommend putting on  post it and placing somewhere so you don’t forget it. If you can narrow it down to three words, that is good for branding purposes. Same series, Cozy Werewolf Drama.

She always starts with tropes for ensemble casts like sitcoms. Helpful for building good character dynamics. - Don’t ignore the power of the three to five man band. Ensembles are okay! They give your characters built in plot and story to work with. Maybe the five man band isn’t always on screen together or members switch out! But not every story has to be a lone wolf character fighting against the world in first person! It’s also okay to think of your group of characters are an RPG party! Whatever works for you. Hell, I’ve used astrology to help build my characters and debunked made up personality tests. Find the broad brushstrokes of your archetypes!

“Forcing a character to be passive is dissatisfying to the reader. “ -  So, there is a style of plot that is very passive because the plot is happening to the character rather than the character causing the plot. This is things like unprovoked alien invasions, tornadoes and other acts of nature, kidnappings, and usually involve the question “what can go wrong?” Thus making the character feel a bit helpless and out of depth. And if this happens throughout the entire book, then the reader isn’t going to feel satisfied because the character never took control over their fate/destiny, rose up, and did anything proactive rather than reactive. This is called character AGENCY. Without it, they are spineless noodles or constant damsels/gents in distress. Let them rise up and take action! (Usually near the climax/end.) This will make your readers feel satisfied the character can at least do something!

“ Promise what you’re going to do in the first five pages.“  - If you are going to traditionally publish, the first 1200 words are all you’re going to get to hook an agent. Don’t bury your gold! Your gold is the conflict of the story, the STAKES for the character if they fail. These are the things that get the reader invested in the story and start asking the question “What will they do next?” And for the love of little green apples, don’t tell what’s going to happen at the end in those same pages. (yes, I have seen prologues that were literally the end of the story or an answer to the mystery.)

Then DELIVER that promise before the end of the book. Show the stakes, resolve the conflict, even if that conflict is 100% internal! (Some of the above is kind of out of order.) Anything you bring up in your books/series, is something you may have to and probably should deliver on down the line (Growls at the Mandalorian) within the same series of books!

“ make them talk like real people in the edit “ - Editing is your friend. The first draft is you getting the story out the way you want it to be, the way you see it in your head. It is word vomit. And it doesn’t ever have to be anything more than word vomit unless you want to publish it. All it has to do is exist. But you can’t edit anything unless it exists in the first place! So push that first draft out without worrying about the fine details. You can add those in later!

Anyways, for more editing advice, go to my website, ginny0.wordpress.com/books, scroll to the bottom and click on the FREE In depth development Editing Guide titled “16 Signs Your Book Isn’t Ready to be Self-Published (And Other Things You Should Know.)” Garnered from my experiences in reading indie published books.

[letswritesomenovels]

Drafting

The Draft Notebook 

Be More Productive with Ambient Noise 

How to Steal: Know Your Tropes 

How to Steal: Good Writers Borrow

Write What You Know (Not What You’ve Experienced)

The Best Way to End a Writing Session

How To Finish a Draft

A Few Tips on Chapters

Language, Description, & Dialog 

“To Be” Or Not “To Be”: What Exactly Is Passive Voice?

Tagging Dialog 

Narrative Voice

Writing Better Descriptions

Basic Rules for Metaphors and Similes

Character, Plot, & Setting 

Creating Characters: a 4-Step Process 

Writing Relationships Your Reader Can Get Behind

Informative Character Names

The Strength of a Symmetrical Plot 

How to Foreshadow

Crafting Homes of Paper, Ink, and Neutral PH Glue

Motivation

On Writing Flawed Books

How to Return to Your Manuscript

The Acknowledgements Page

Staring at Blank Pages

What to Do When You Can’t Write

Motivational Writing Posters

Publishing

Writing the Perfect Query Letter

How to Write a Synopsis 

How to Pitch Your Novel in Under a Minute

A Glossary of Publishing Terms: Vol 1

Writing Tools

Why You Should Give Scrivener a Try

Outlining, Brainstorming, and Researching with Scrivener

Drafting with Scrivener

Editing with Scrivener 

CTRL+F

The Forest Productivity App

Editsaurus 

NaNoWriMo

Why Try NaNoWriMo

October Prep 

Why Listen to Writing Podcasts

Pick a New Daily Word Count Goal 

How to Write 2000 Words a Day

How to Plan a Novel without a Story

Pacemaker: Custom Daily Word Count Website

NaNoWriMo Master Post

Other

How to Read an Absurd Number of Books

Writing Workshops: An Introduction

Writing Groups

Different Types of Fantasy Novels

Ambient Soundscapes Based on Famous Writers

Ko-Fi & Other Support

If you enjoy my posts and can afford it, I would greatly appreciate it if you donated to my new ko-fi page! Each of these posts represents multiple hours of unpaid labor. I love writing for this blog, but I’m also an underpaid 20-something trying to stay afloat. I’ve made this master post of every essay I’ve written for this blog as a way to show my appreciation in advance of any support. If you donate, to further show my gratitude and appreciation, I’ll take requests for essay topics in the ‘messages of support.’ 

If you can’t afford to donate via ko-fi, another great way to show your support is simply by reblogging posts that you find useful and helping my blog reach new writers. 

Thanks so much! 

[the-soot-sprite]

Writing Resources: Advice and Motivation

Writing Resources Masterlist

Things Neil Gaiman Said

A reason to write what you love

Bad Writing Day

Don’t focus on the big things; just keep writing

“Fix it fanfic” Writing to your own work

How to be a writer (the easy way)

How to reconnect with an unfinished work

how to stay motivated as a writer

How to trick your brain into writing

No motivation to keep going on

Scared for others to read your work?

Sound like yourself writing advice

What to do when you’re discouraged by feedback

Wills for Writers

Write it badly

Writing and mental health

Writing in the fog

General Tips

Cliché but true writing advice

Fail better

Femme Fatale Guide: How To Gain Motivation & Get Out of A Rut

Harsh writing advice

How do I write when I just can’t write?

How to measure success as a writer

How to (not) start a book

Idea vs Execution (writing advice)

Reasons not to quit writing

Some writing advice

Things Writers Need to Hear

Value

What are you writing?

What to do when you’ve written yourself in a corner

What to write

Write that fanfiction

Writing advice

Writing on auto pilot

Writing Tips from a Beta Reader

[nanowrimo]

How to Use Meal Scenes to Develop Characters, Relationships, and Your World

Worldbuilding can sound complicated, but why not make it a little more simple by focusing on food? It may be the domestic touch you need! NaNo Participant Lacey Pfalz talks about using meal scenes to develop your world and your characters.

There’s one thing that remains a universal human truth: we love food! While our perspectives on food might differ, people all across the globe gather together during mealtimes — and thus, mealtimes are made memorable.

Meal scenes can also help your story in a few key ways, especially if it’s fantasy, science fiction or historical fiction.

Keep reading

[elumish]

Less Common Characterization Question

What is your characters response to fear? (Happiness? Despair?)

How often does your character cry?

What causes your character to make bad decisions?

What is your character's first reaction to hearing a baby crying?

What is your character's bedtime ritual? Their morning ritual?

Are there any foods that your character hates but eats anyway?

How strongly does your character identify with their gender(s)?

When did your character figure out their sexuality?

Is your character ever surprised when they see themselves in the mirror?

[phosphorescent-naidheachd]

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone had told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase; they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative, work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know that it’s normal and the important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish one piece. It’s only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take awhile. You just gotta fight your way through.”

— Ira Glass (via oddhour)

[l1atena1]

Don't you sometimes get an absolutely extrodinary, mind blowing, such an awesome idea for a story, but you just don't have enough skill level to pull it off?

[dark-magical-ships]

Write it anyway.

Write it anyway, write it anyway, write it anyway.

There are so, so, so many reasons:

You gain that skill level only through practice. So practice.

No matter what you’re writing, no matter how badly you think you’ve written it, there is ALWAYS some audience that will love it and cherish it.

You can use what you write the first time around as a first draft and just rewrite it again later when you feel like tackling the story again!

Rewriting the same story over and over is a valid writing process. It’s literally just creating new drafts. Each iteration will be better than the last, because each is building on your growing skill and experience.

If you love the story, it will always be worth telling simply for your own enjoyment. If no one else ever sees it, that’s okay! Your art should be for you first, anyway.

Write it anyway.

[bettsfic]

“One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.”

― Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

[joanhello2]

Among professional writers there's a category called trunk stories. A trunk story is one that you feel inspired to write but you know isn't ready for prime time. Before the computer age, when it was all hardcopy, the writer put trunk stories away, in a drawer or box early in their career, then in an actual trunk or a filing cabinet as the number of trunk stories grew. When writers find themselves stuck for ideas, they often read some of the trunk stories, hoping to be inspired to rewrite one into something they'd actually be willing to let their fandom see. Some stories stay in the trunk for decades before finally seeing the light of day. Some are still there when the writer dies. The Silmarilion was basically pieced together from trunk stories after JRRT's death. If you have an inspiring idea but don't think you can do it justice now, write as much as you have and put it in the trunk.

[manda-kat]

Hey if you have a character and they feel kind of empty as far as motivation, personality and backstory goes, I have a very serious question for you that might help:

When you imagine their childhood, are there parents there or are they just vague people-shaped blobs?

If your character doesn't have a defined relationship with their parents (positive or negative) then that might be contributing to why you have trouble finishing their personality. How we are raised dictates a lot of our values, quirks and trauma. Was their mother overprotective, leading to them second-guessing themselves and afraid of the outside world? Were they close with their father and now their only dream is to finish the mission he started? Did their parents fight all the time and now they hate confrontation?

Even if your character’s parents are dead, that isn't just a sad thing that happened to them, it's a building block you need to actually use. Somebody raised this character in a certain way and even if nobody raised them, they're going to show that through their personality.

And if you want to take it a step further, give your character siblings and make that affect their personality. Are they the responsible oldest? The oldest with the high expectations? The bossy oldest? The forgotten middle child? The middle child who'd do anything to stand out? The twin who can't bear to be away from their sibling? The definitely oldest twin- and yes the distinction matters? The lonely only child? The mature for their age only child? The sheltered only child? The bullied youngest? The baby? The golden child? The black sheep? The only boy or girl in their family?

If you have trouble making a character’s personality it may be because you haven't defined the people around them. We don't just make personalities for ourselves in a vacuum. Our behaviors are molded by those we love.

[homunculus-argument]

One thing I’ve learned about writing is ”give everything a face”. It’s no good to write passively that the nobility fled the city or that the toxic marshes were poisoning the animals beyond any ability to function. Make a protagonist see how a desperate woman in torn silks climbs onto a carriage and speeds off, or a two-headed deer wanders right into the camp and into the fire. Don’t just have an ambiguous flock of all-controlling oligarchy, name one or two representatives of it, and illustrate just how vile and greedy they are as people.

it’s bad to have characters who serve no purpose in the story, but giving something a face is a perfectly valid purpose.

[tlbodine]

This is the real heart of “show don’t tell”

[em-dash-press-deactivated202410]

What Is an Inciting Incident? Learn How to Write a Great One

Inciting incidents hook readers. They take stories in an entirely new direction or get the plot moving faster.

It’s the moment when Lucy discovers Narnia in the wardrobe or Gandalf introduces the thirteen dwarves to Bilbo.

Every great story has a fascinating inciting incident. Here are a few tips to come up with your own.

What Is an Inciting Incident?

An inciting incident is an event that causes chaos or change in the protagonist’s life. It kickstarts the story’s plot by compelling the protagonist forward. This can happen in the first chapter of a novel or the first few pages of a short story.

There are also three types of inciting incidents:

Coincidental: an event that’s unexpected or accidental. (Someone finds gold in their backyard or crashes their car into another vehicle and finds out their best friend was the other driver.)

Causal: an action or event the protagonist chooses to do. (Your protagonist files for divorce or gives in to their lifelong urge to start a restaurant.)

Off-page: an event that happens before the story starts or outside of the protagonist’s experience. (A country drops a bomb on the protagonist’s hometown while they’re at work one day or the protagonist’s best friend goes missing ten years before your story starts.)

Tips for Writing Inciting Plot Points

Now that you know the two types of inciting incidents, use these tips to create plot-activating moments that make your audience buckle in for a long night of reading.

1. Make the Protagonist’s World Flip

A great inciting incident causes a significant imbalance in your protagonist’s life. They should start making decisions or changes they wouldn’t have before as they respond to the incident. 

Consider the almost-car-crash in Twilight. Sure, you could argue that moving to Forks is the inciting incident for Bella. It’s definitely the first incident that gets the plot going, but the story only shifts into vampire mode when Edward saves her from getting hit in the school’s parking lot. She notices his insane strength and speed, so she starts questioning who he is.

The inhuman features that intrigue Bella also hook the reader. You keep reading to find out how she discovers he’s a vampire and when/how the big reveal happens.

Her discovery that vampires exist also changes how she interacts with and understands her world. It radically alters her life path, well before she gets to know his family or the other supernatural beings in Forks.

2. Keep the Magnitude a Mystery

Sometimes major life moments happen and we don’t realize how significant they are. You could bump into a person at the grocery store, only to recognize them at a farmer’s market a week later and start a conversation. That person might be your future romantic partner who changes your life, but you don’t realize that while you’re standing between shelves of pasta and spaghetti sauce.

Don’t be afraid of leaving your inciting incident a mystery to your protagonist. Moments of excitement or terror can be great for starting your plot, but sometimes a hint of mystery intrigues readers too.

3. Align the Incident With Your Theme

You might know what your character is going to experience on their journey to the plot resolution but have no idea what your inciting incident should be.

If you can’t think of something, consider your theme. What event or circumstance would start your protagonist on a learning journey that exemplifies your theme?

Let’s imagine a scenario where you’re writing a coming-of-age story. Ultimately, you want your protagonist to recognize they have no control over their lives and find security in the community they build around themselves.

To make that initial loss of control happen, you could pick an inciting incident like someone breaking into their home. During the robbery, the criminal accidentally sets the house on fire. Your protagonist’s family loses everything and has to start over.

This event would align with your protagonist’s inner conflict. Focusing on inner conflict can be another perspective if you’re unsure what your theme is.

Let’s say your protagonist wants to go to college to provide for their family, but they get kicked off of their soccer team for cheating on a test. A soccer scholarship is the only way they could to college, but that chance disappears forever. They have to make a series of choices after that to find a new way to pay for college, which is the rest of your plot.

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Inciting incidents are important, so try thinking about yours apart from your stories. When they carry thematic weight or flip your protagonist’s world upside down, you’ll know you’ve created an incident that will hook your readers.